Americans United - sex educationhttps://www.au.org/tags/sex-education
enIgnorance Is Bliss?: Del. Pastor Proposes Excluding LGBT Definitions From Textbookshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/ignorance-is-bliss-del-pastor-proposes-excluding-lgbt-definitions-from
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Fink, who pastors the Millsboro Bible Church, hasn’t bothered to present a secular argument for his campaign. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Delaware’s Indian River School District (IRSD) is prepared to vote on new health textbooks this month. And if board member Shaun Fink gets his way, the books will exclude any mention of LGBT individuals. He’s also proposed excluding lessons on HIV/AIDS and contraception in favor of promoting an abstinence-only approach to sex education.<br /><br />Fink, who pastors the Millsboro Bible Church, hasn’t bothered to present a secular argument for his campaign. “I live a life where every day my attempt is to honor God,” he <a href="http://www.delmarvanow.com/longform/news/local/delaware/2014/10/10/lbgt-fink-school/17032599/">told DelmarvaNow</a>, a local news website. “Part of honoring God is maintaining his precepts and scripture, and I cannot justify teaching our children we should accept, condone or consider normal, things that God says are not normal, things that God says are an abomination.”<br /><br />Public schools, of course, cannot teach children what Shaun Fink thinks God says. In a letter submitted to the school board, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) <a href="https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/248827962?access_key=key-%20XLahYgJ6xTfAyEzLRumT&amp;allow_share=true&amp;escape=false&amp;view_mode=scroll%20target=">reminded officials</a> they’re required to uphold the Constitution.<br /><br />“To deny students such information because of anyone’s religious or other personal belief-based objections would raise serious First Amendment concerns and, in turn, compromise our public education system and potentially expose students to unnecessary and significant health risks,” <a href="https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/248827962?access_key=key-%20XLahYgJ6xTfAyEzLRumT&amp;allow_share=true&amp;escape=false&amp;view_mode=scroll%20target=">NCAC wrote</a>.<br /><br />Fink didn’t take it well. “I think it’s a little bit ironic that the National Coalition Against Censorship is choosing to censor me,” he said, and <a href="http://www.delmarvanow.com/media/cinematic/video/19827883/shaun-fink-reacts-to-national-coalition-against-censorship/">accused the NCAC</a> of “censoring anybody who has a faith-based perspective and a Christian worldview.”<br /><br />The good reverend should perhaps look up the definition of “ironic.” Censorship is exactly what he’s attempting to promote via his elected office. It is not “ironic” for the NCAC to remind that office also carries specific legal responsibilities that he has chosen to abdicate in the name of dogma.<br /><br />The NCAC’s letter, which Americans United also signed on to, notes there’s mainstream scientific consensus that LGBT orientations are not abnormal or unhealthy. There’s also consensus that ignorance about LGBT people leads directly to bullying – a key factor behind the community’s high suicide rates. <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm">The CDC reports</a> that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide; another study of transgender youth found that a full quarter had also tried to end their lives.</p><p>But Fink isn’t moved by those stats. “It's not my fault there is a high suicide rate amongst young gay people,” he said.<br /><br />The facts spell trouble for the rest of his agenda, too. There’s plenty of evidence, for example, that abstinence-only sex education actually correlates to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/04/10/461402/teen-pregnancy-sex-education/">higher rates</a> of teen pregnancy. It’s obvious that leaving teenagers ignorant on the subject of human sexuality creates, rather than resolves, public health crises.<br /><br />He face opposition in the community as well. Students and local residents slammed Fink’s proposals at a recent public hearing. Al Snyder, who is gay, lost his U.S. Marine son in Iraq – only to watch Westboro Baptist Church picket the funeral with anti-gay messages.</p><p>“I've come across people like you in my life," <a href="http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2014/10/28/indian-river-lgbt/18050897/">he told Fink</a>. “It's got to stop. My son died for this country, my partner and I raised him and he died for you and this country. It's an insult to hear your words.”<br /><br />Others noted that Fink’s exclusions could violate the First Amendment. Don Peterson, who represented the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware, said, “Public education must not be designed to support a particular religious belief.”</p><p>“LGBT students are here in your schools now. To omit any references to them from the curriculum deliberately diminishes and disrespects them as human beings. Surely that is not an acceptable role of public education,” he added.<br /><br />Peterson is correct. If IRSD officials vote to approve Fink’s proposals, they’d find themselves on untenable legal footing. Legal precedent is clear: Public schools are religiously neutral zones. Fink is attempting to violate that principle, and he shouldn’t be allowed to succeed. </p><p>P.S. Americans United has <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/delaware-divide-public-schools-remain-fertile-ground-for-disputes-over">had problems</a> with this school district before. Be assured that we’ll be keeping a close watch on things. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-religion-schools-and-universities">Other Issues regarding Religion in Schools and Universities</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/shaun-fink">Shaun Fink</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/delaware">Delaware</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/indian-river-school-district">Indian River School District</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lgbt">LGBT</a></span></div></div>Wed, 10 Dec 2014 17:32:00 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones10737 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/ignorance-is-bliss-del-pastor-proposes-excluding-lgbt-definitions-from#commentsReligious Right Groups Ramp Up War On School Sex Educationhttps://www.au.org/church-state/october-2014-church-state/people-events/religious-right-groups-ramp-up-war-on-school
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Once again, the beginning of a new school year brings renewed debate over approaches to sex education in public schools.</p><p>In Arizona, for example, officials in the Tempe Union High School District have attempted to insert dogmatic views into a sex-education course to be launched this fall.</p><p><em>The Arizona Republic </em>reported that Moses Sanchez, the school board vice president, recently challenged a portion of the proposed curriculum that discusses various birth control methods. Specifically, Sanchez wanted to know if the intrauterine device (IUD) should be reclassified as an abortion method. Other board members then chimed in to ask that the curriculum note that people have different beliefs about contraception and the beginning of human life, and if the curriculum should promote adoption as preferable to abortion.</p><p>Medical science is clear that IUDs do not cause abortions. Neither does the birth control pill, or the implant or any other contraceptive method (including Plan B). But in its recent <em>Hobby Lobby</em> decision, the Supreme Court allowed the owners of for-profit corporations to opt out of providing these forms of birth control because they believe they cause abortions.</p><p>The proposed class would be available in addition to an abstinence-only program already offered by the district. That class, “Choosing The Best” promotes adoption over abortion and asserts that abortion is linked to medical complications, symptoms of “post-ab­or­tion syndrome” and infertility. The program also teaches students that sexual activity outside legal marriage inev­itably has negative consequences, and a class developed for juniors and seniors in high school purportedly guides them to choosing their “soulmate.”</p><p>But the curriculum is a relatively recent addition to the district’s schools. Last year, the district invited a qualified sex educator from Planned Parenthood to provide instruction. According to the <em>Republic</em>, parents objected, citing concerns that the class wouldn’t teach morality.</p><p>Use of “Choosing The Best” also isn’t limited to the Tempe Union High School district. A number of Arizona schools rely on the curriculum, including the Chandler Unified School District. In Chandler, classes are taught by external instructors from Northstar Youth Partnership, which identifies itself as a program of Catholic Charities.</p><p>Programs such as “Choosing The Best” spell trouble for students, notes AU Communications Associate Sarah Jones. In a “Wall of Separation” blog post, she observed, “The truth is that teenagers flourish when they receive accurate information about sexual activity. California expanded its sex education programs and required them to be comprehensive and medically accurate. The result? By 2011, teen birth rates had dropped by almost 60 percent. During roughly the same time period, Arizona’s teen pregnancy rate dropped by 38 percent. Nationally, the teen birth rate is consistently highest in states that use abstinence-only sex ed.”</p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">People &amp; Events</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/reproductive-health-conscience-clauses-for-religious-objectors">Reproductive Health &amp; Conscience Clauses for Religious Objectors</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-10542" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span></div></div>Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:42:04 +0000Timothy Ritz10563 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/church-state/october-2014-church-state/people-events/religious-right-groups-ramp-up-war-on-school#commentsSex Education Or Simplistic Sectarianism?: Religious Right ‘Experts’ Rely on Pseudoscience And Shaming To Promote Theology In Schools https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/sex-education-or-simplistic-sectarianism-religious-right-experts-rely-on
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Title V Abstinence Education program, reauthorized by President Barack Obama as a concession to social conservatives, is a crack in the wall of separation that allows sectarian influences to seep into public classrooms.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The uproar over Justin Lookadoo’s sexist <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/a-dateable-debacle-texas-school-presentation-raises-serious-constitutional">school presentation</a> in Texas has subsided to a murmur, but the presence of fundamentalist abstinence speakers in public schools remains a serious problem.<br /><br />A legacy of the Bush administration’s “abstinence-only” push, fundamentalist Christians enjoy federal financial backing for their dogmatic approach to sex education. The Title V Abstinence Education program, reauthorized by President Barack Obama as a concession to social conservatives, is a crack in the wall of separation that allows sectarian influences to seep into public classrooms.<br /><br />As a result, students are subjected to inaccurate, aggressive presentations peppered with pseudoscience. In June, AU’s Rob Boston <a href="https://au.org/church-state/june-2013-church-state/featured/sects-and-sex-ed">covered</a> the story of Katelyn Campbell, a West Virginia student who lodged a protest after her school hosted Pam Stenzel, a notoriously extreme abstinence advocate.<br /><br />Stenzel, a graduate of evangelical Liberty University, told students that “…if you take birth control, your mother probably hates you.” Among her more outrageous claims: that she could tell if a student is promiscuous simply by looking at them, and that birth control users are “10 times more likely to contract a disease…or end up sterile or dead.”<br /><br />None of these claims is supported by medical research, but that doesn’t seem to deter school administrators eager to promote Stenzel’s simplistic message.<br /><br />Stenzel is just one of several abstinence only speakers profiled in a recent <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/11/abstinence-speakers-public-schools-lookadoo">piece</a> by <em>Mother Jones </em>magazine. Jason Evert, a devoutly Catholic abstinence advocate, emphasizes female modesty as the key to sexual purity, telling students, “A culture of immodest women will necessarily be a culture of uncommitted men.”<br /><br />Sexism emerges as a consistent theme in these presentations, as speakers seem to focus disproportionately on the dress and behavior of teen girls. (Boys, it is assumed, will be boys and either can’t or won’t change their behavior.)<br /><br />In a 2011 presentation, Shelley Donahue of the Center for Relationship Education placed the blame directly on the shoulders of high school girls.</p><p>“The boys want to love and respect these girls, and the girls won't let them. The girls are backing up the booty, the girls are being assertive, these girls are emasculating these boys,” Donahue asserted.<br /><br />Other speakers prefer to rely on the type of pseudoscience we typically expect from the anti-abortion movement. Joi Wassill, founder and co-director of pro-abstinence outfit Decisions, Choices and Options Inc., tells students that condoms are riddled with holes and that the morning-after pill is really a chemical abortion.<br /><br />Again, these claims aren’t supported by facts, but according to Wassill, she’s teaching “sexual risk avoidance.” It’s unclear why she couldn’t communicate the same message with real facts.<br /><br />High schools have a clear interest in protecting the well-being of their students, so it’s little surprise that administrators want to promote healthy relationship behaviors. But this goal won’t be achieved by exposing students to sexist, inaccurate abstinence-only speakers who derive their views from extreme dogma instead of mainstream social and medical research.<br /><br />The consequences of this approach to sex education can be extraordinarily damaging for young people, as articulated by kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart in a recent <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0504/Elizabeth-Smart-speaks-on-human-trafficking">speech</a>.<br /><br />Smart, abducted at 14 by a religious zealot and his wife, experienced horrific abuse at the hands of her captors. Prior to her abduction, she’d been exposed to sectarian abstinence-only sex education by a school teacher who compared sexual activity to chewing a piece of gum.<br /><br />“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away,’” she said. “And that’s how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value.”<br /><br />Smart’s abduction is an experience that most high school students, thankfully, will never share, but her perspective provides troubling insight into the long-term psychological effects of sectarian sex education.<br /><br />If school administrators are still determined to promote abstinence to their students, then at the very least they should carefully research proposed speakers. The Pam Stenzels and Justin Lookadoos of the Religious Right have no business in public schools—and they have no business receiving taxpayer funds, either. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-distributions-events-and-evangelism-during-school-day">Religious Distributions, Events and Evangelism during the School Day</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/release-time-religious-instruction-during-school-day">Religious Instruction during the School Day or &#039;Release Time&#039;</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pam-stenzel">Pam Stenzel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/justin-lookadoo">Justin Lookadoo</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/abstinence-only">abstinence only</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/contraception">contraception</a></span></div></div>Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:26:13 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones9166 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/sex-education-or-simplistic-sectarianism-religious-right-experts-rely-on#commentsImproper Influence: NYC Public Schools Bow To Church Rules On Sex Ed https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/improper-influence-nyc-public-schools-bow-to-church-rules-on-sex-ed
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Putting the dogma of a church ahead of the needs of public schools students is not being &#039;responsible.&#039; In fact, it’s an abrogation of responsibility.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>New York state law mandates that public school students receive sex education and instruction about HIV/AIDS. But some students in New York City can’t get that vital information in their classrooms and have to go elsewhere for it.</p><p>Why is this so? It turns out that in the Big Apple, some public schools are operating in buildings owned by the Catholic Church. And the church hierarchy won’t allow this instruction on site.</p><p>The New York <em>Daily News</em> <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sex-ed-banned-catholic-church-owned-school-buildings-article-1.1309911">reported recently</a> that public school officials have been leasing space from the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn since 2005. The church has empty buildings that used to be parochial schools, and the city needs more space. This year, according to the <em>Daily News</em>, NYC’s Education Department will pay the church more than $27 million in rent.</p><p>In each case, the students attending the church-owned facilities must leave the buildings and travel somewhere else for sex education. Students at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, a public charter school in Brooklyn, must hoof it 15 minutes away to get this instruction. (And don’t even get me started on the <a href="http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/14/k685/default.htm">giant cross</a> on the building.)</p><p>Not surprisingly, many of the students and their parents think this is a foolish arrangement.</p><p>Tayshawn Edmonds, a 15-year-old sophomore at El Puente, labeled the policy “crazy” and added, “The church owns the building, so they call the shots. But I don’t see why they get to control what we’re doing at our school.”</p><p>They get that control because education officials in New York City let them have it. Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott told the <em>Daily</em> <em>News, </em>“We have dozens and dozens of sites with the diocese and archdiocese, and that’s predicated on being responsible and following the tenets of the church.”</p><p>Putting the dogma of a church ahead of the needs of public schools students is not being “responsible.” In fact, it’s the opposite: an abrogation of responsibility.</p><p>And, as should be obvious, a public school system has no obligation to follow the tenets of any church. In fact, public schools aren’t allowed to do that.</p><p>I know that space is at a premium in New York City. These former parochial schools are empty, so it makes some sense to put them to use. But why did NYC’s education officials have to give away the store? I find it hard to believe that in New York – the tough town that never sleeps, a place where "if you can make it there you can make it anywhere" – no one in the city’s Education Department can negotiate.</p><p>The church hierarchy is getting more than $27 million a year in rent for these schools. That’s a nice chunk of change. My guess is that the bishops would like to keep that money. Perhaps someone in the city’s Education Department should tell church officials, “Look, we’re done letting you guys call the shots about what’s taught in our curriculum. If you want your check this year, drop the policy or we’re done here. Deal or no deal?”</p><p>What would happen? Maybe it’s time to find out.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/use-religious-buildings-schools">Use of Religious Buildings by Schools</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/new-york-city">New York City</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tayshawn-edmonds">Tayshawn Edmonds</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/el-puente-academy-for-peace-and-justice">El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/dennis-walcott">Dennis Walcott</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span></div></div>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:05:07 +0000Rob Boston8277 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/improper-influence-nyc-public-schools-bow-to-church-rules-on-sex-ed#commentsTroup, TXhttps://www.au.org/our-work/legal/successes/troup-tx
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>AU received a complaint that a public high school in Texas was promoting (and effectively planning to operate) a Christian abstinence-only education program at two local churches. The seven-week course, entitled “True Love Waits,” requires students to commit to God and pledge sexual purity until they enter a Bible-based marriage. Although the program was to be held during the school day at two local churches, District-employed teachers — who wanted to “share their faith” with students — were set to be instructors, the District distributed fliers promoting the course, and the District planned to transport students to the churches using District-owned school buses. In addition, the District promised students that they would not have to make up any schoolwork missed while attending the course. AU wrote a letter advising the District that its involvement with the course violated the Establishment Clause, and asking that the District either cancel the program or entirely disassociate from it. The District superintendent quickly responded, informing AU that the course had been cancelled and that the District would not be involved in any similar programs in the future.</p></div></div><span class="field"><span class="date-display-single">October 2006</span></span><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-distributions-events-and-evangelism-during-school-day">Religious Distributions, Events and Evangelism during the School Day</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span></div></div><span class="field field-name-field-address field-type-addressfield field-label-hidden" ><span class="field addressfield field-item" ><span class="addressfield-citystate">Troup, TX</span></span></span>Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:36:23 +0000Americans United5844 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/our-work/legal/successes/troup-tx#commentsChinese Puzzle: Focus On The Family Brings ‘Abstinence-Only’ Education To The World’s Most Populous Countryhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/chinese-puzzle-focus-on-the-family-brings-%E2%80%98abstinence-only%E2%80%99-education-to
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Communists have a long history of obsessing over people’s sex lives and trying to legislate morality – just like our friends in the Religious Right.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>While researching my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Close-Encounters-Religious-Right-Journeys/dp/157392797X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1283519791&amp;sr=1-1">book</a> <em>Close Encounters with the Religious Right</em> in 1999, I visited the headquarters of Focus on the Family (FOF) in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>During the tour, the guide showed us a large map of the world covered with lights. Each light represented a city where FOF broadcasts were heard over the radio.</p>
<p>I was surprised to see several lights in China, a communist country not known for its openness to evangelistic groups. The guide explained that in China, Focus broadcasts had to be stripped of their religious content but that the “pro-family” message still came through.</p>
<p>It looks like FOF has made further inroads in China since then. Today’s <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090205358.html?hpid=topnews">reports</a> that officials in the province of Yunnan have asked the group to begin teaching “abstinence-only” programs to teenagers.</p>
<p>I expect these programs to work about as well in China as they have in the United States – which is to say, not well at all. In America, abstinence-only programs tend to have three features: They are based on fear, they feature inaccurate medical information and they contain a glob of religious fundamentalism.</p>
<p>They also fail spectacularly.</p>
<p>Why do these programs fail? The answer is that they are completely out of whack with reality. In 2006, the Guttmacher Institute, a leading researcher on human sexuality,<a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2006/12/19/index.html"> released a survey</a> finding that pre-marital sex has become the norm for Americans – and has been that way for a long time.</p>
<p>Guttmacher found that 95 percent of respondents indicated they had sex before marriage. Instead of accepting this reality, abstinence-only programs continue to try to scare young people away from sex or, worse yet, encourage them to forgo using condoms, asserting that they don’t really prevent disease or break too easily. As a result, a lot of young people who have gone through these programs stay away from condoms but still have sex. You can guess what happens next.</p>
<p>Even if the programs will be stripped of fundamentalist dogma, one has to wonder why Chinese officials would welcome such an approach. The answer exposes a dirty little secret that the American right-wing has labored to keep under wraps: When it comes to social issues, right-wing fundamentalists and communists have more in common than either would like to admit.</p>
<p>The right wing loves to portray political progressives as dupes for communism. In reality, communists have a long history of obsessing over people’s sex lives and trying to legislate morality – just like our friends in the Religious Right.</p>
<p>Consider homosexuality, for example. Under Joseph Stalin, homosexual acts in the USSR were a crime meriting five years of hard labor in the gulag. Consensual same-sex relationships between adults were not legalized in Russia until 1993, after the fall of communism</p>
<p>China’s Mao Zedong was similarly obsessed with stamping out homosexuality, as he considered same-sex relationships a symbol of Western decadence. Such relationships were not decriminalized in China until 1997.</p>
<p>Communist leaders often held regressive, prudish views on sex. Providing effective forms of birth control was never a top priority. In Romania, the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided the country’s population should increase – even though the mostly poor residents didn’t have the resources to support more children. Birth control was banned, and a cult of motherhood propagated. Women who had large families were given special medals and citations. (Ceausescu also promulgated a strict anti-homosexuality law. Thousands of gays were imprisoned.)</p>
<p>Teens in China and the United States need the same thing: medically accurate, comprehensive sex education based in reality. China should adopt that option. The simplistic, abstinence-only message of Focus on the Family is no solution. It will only make things worse in the world’s most populated country.</p>
<p>P.S. “The Wall of Separation” will be on hiatus on Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday weekend!</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/china">China</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/focus-family">Focus On The Family</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/josef-stalin">Josef Stalin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mao-zedong">Mao Zedong</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/romania">Romania</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span></div></div>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:28:56 +0000Rob Boston2109 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/chinese-puzzle-focus-on-the-family-brings-%E2%80%98abstinence-only%E2%80%99-education-to#commentsAbstaining From Common Sense: The Sorry State Of Sex (Mis)Education in Texashttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/abstaining-from-common-sense-the-sorry-state-of-sex-miseducation-in-texas
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Here&#039;s a news flash for the Religious Right: The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Whenever people ask me for a concrete example of how the Religious Right has affected public policy, I point to the spread of "abstinence-only" sex education. Thanks to pressure from Protestant fundamentalist and traditionalist Roman Catholic groups, federal tax money funds only these programs.</p>
<p>This is the case even though polls show most Americans support comprehensive sex education for young people – programs that stress the value of abstinence but also talk frankly and accurately about ways to prevent unwanted pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.</p>
<p>So how are the "abstinence-only" programs working out? A <a href="http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SexEdReportIndexPage">new report</a> by our friends at the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) illustrates how ineffective they can be. TFN found that sex education in Texas' public schools is rife with inaccuracies, often based on programs that stress fear and shame and, most alarmingly, sometimes includes religious material.</p>
<p>The TFN report finds that nearly 10 percent of Texas' secondary school districts have incorporated religious material into their sex ed classes. One school district distributed a handout titled "Things to look for in a mate." The first item listed was, "Is Jesus their first love?" Another district asked teens to explain what the Bible says about premarital sex.</p>
<p>The report also found that inaccurate information about condoms was found in 40 percent of the school districts. Most commonly, condom failure rates are exaggerated, or discredited claims are made that the AIDS virus can pass through latex condoms. (<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/latex.htm">Not true</a>, says the Centers for Disease Control.)</p>
<p>In my travels shadowing the Religious Right over the years, I've noticed this unrelenting hostility toward condoms. The thinking of the Religious Right seems to be that if young people find out condoms exist, they will start having sex.</p>
<p>I've got news for the Religious Right: Young people know about condoms, and they are having sex. The problem is, your groups have scared many away from using them. (Even Bristol Palin <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-bristol-palin-ft-0218feb18,0,6069783.story">knows </a>why this is irresponsible!)</p>
<p>Here's another news flash for the Religious Right: The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage. A <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2006/12/19/index.html">2006 study</a> by the Guttmacher Institute found that 95 percent of Americans engage in pre-marital sex. As Guttmacher put it, the practice is "nearly universal among Americans and has been for decades." The "abstinence-until-marriage" message is completely disconnected from reality,</p>
<p>Texas spent $18 million spreading the "abstinence-only" message in 2007. It's not working. The state has one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation and, according to TFN, spends $1 billion annually on the costs associated with teen pregnancy.</p>
<p>I wish Texas – and indeed the entire nation – had a sex education policy that was based in the real world. Alas, it appears that won't be arriving any time soon. The federal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill is out. It <a href="http://community.feministing.com/2009/02/omnibus-of-disappointment-hous.html">allocates</a> $94 million for more "abstinence-only" programs.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas">Texas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas-freedom-network">Texas Freedom Network</a></span></div></div>Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:00:19 +0000Rob Boston1954 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/abstaining-from-common-sense-the-sorry-state-of-sex-miseducation-in-texas#commentsPregnant Pause: The Real Issue Worth Talking About Behind The Palin Storyhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/pregnant-pause-the-real-issue-worth-talking-about-behind-the-palin-story
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Of all the components of President George W. Bush&#039;s &#039;faith-based&#039; initiative, none has failed more miserably than abstinence-based education.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The announcement by Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant has drawn an interesting response from the Religious Right: It's no big deal.</p>
<p>James Dobson of Focus on the Family <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/dobson-on-brist.html">issued a statement</a> lauding the Palins and asserting, "Being a Christian does not mean you're perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord."</p>
<p>Richard Land, chief lobbyist for the Southern Baptist Convention <a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/09/01/evangelicals-say-palins-daughter-wont-be-an-issue.html">added</a>, "I don't think it [hurts] at all....Pro-life people don't see a baby as punishment."</p>
<p>Still others have insisted that the matter is a private one that should not be an issue for public debate.</p>
<p>But it will be an issue, and it should be. Here's why: Public policy questions are implicated. Sarah Palin, as a candidate for governor of Alaska, expressed her opposition to comprehensive sex education in public schools. She told the Eagle Forum she would support only "abstinence based" sex education and remarked, "The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."</p>
<p>Of all the components of President George W. Bush's "faith-based" initiative, none has failed more miserably than abstinence-based education. Many of the programs are thinly veiled religious dogma. <a href="http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/11/08/news/top_news/doca8ef4241c6ecd4f18625738d0005bbcb.txt">Study</a> after <a href="http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.showFeature&amp;FeatureID=1035&amp;varuniqueuserid=91917816690">study</a> has shown them to be ineffective.</p>
<p>To top it off, the American public does not support this approach. Polls show <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1622610">majorities backing</a> comprehensive sex education for teens, programs that stress the need for abstinence yet also talk about contraceptives and ways to prevent pregnancy and the transmission of disease.</p>
<p>Despite this, federal tax dollars continue to be poured down the "abstinence-only" rat hole. About two months ago, "The Wall of Separation" reported on a $1.1 million <a href="http://blog.au.org/2008/06/25/juvenile-injustice-doj-faithbased-grants-were-steered-to-bush-allies-says-abc/">Justice Department grant</a> that went to an organization called "Best Friends." Best Friends' main job seems to be holding a fund-raising gala every year to pay for more abstinence-only programs. It is run by the wife of former GOP Education Secretary and "drug czar" William Bennett.</p>
<p>Anyone who is the parent of a teenaged daughter – and I am – can't help but feel for what the Palin family is going through right now. At the same time, we would be naÃƒÂ¯ve not to acknowledge that what we teach – or don't teach – our young people can have dramatic consequences.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/media/press-release.aspx?releaseID=21">National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies</a>, there are more than 729,000 teen pregnancies annually. Most of these pregnancies are unplanned. Comprehensive sex education would not have blocked every one of them, of course, but it's a safe bet it would have prevented some. But right now, under federal law, we can't spend even one dime of tax money on these programs.</p>
<p>That's the real issue worth talking about during this campaign.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religion-public-schools-and-universities">Religion in Public Schools and Universities</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/election-08">Election &#039;08</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sarah-palin">sarah palin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sex-education">sex education</a></span></div></div>Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:59:33 +0000Rob Boston1902 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/pregnant-pause-the-real-issue-worth-talking-about-behind-the-palin-story#comments